


Left Behind

by pupeez4eva



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-18 23:11:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14862093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pupeez4eva/pseuds/pupeez4eva
Summary: "He never would’ve expected what would happen when he’d first arrived in the village and met that moody, badly dressed chav of a teenager."As Adam leaves the village, he thinks back on his friendship with Aaron.





	Left Behind

He was leaving. He was really leaving.

 

It was a strange thought — soon, he'd be in a new place, and his life in Emmerdale would soon become a distant memory. He hadn’t lived his whole life there, but in the years he'd spent there, it had become his home. He’d experienced some of the best moments of his life there, and some of the worst. It had changed him, helped him become the person he now was — and sometimes Adam wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, but it was still _him,_ and he didn’t think he’d ever change that.

 

He was leaving now, and he might never go back. His home, the farm, the scrapyard — his dad and Holly’s graves — all of that were back in Emmerdale. And the _people —_ his mum, Vic, Aaron — he was leaving them behind, and that hurt the most.

 

He looked at the photos in his hands, flipping through them. Him and Vic on their wedding day. The whole family, back when Dad had still been alive. Him and Mum. Him and Aaron, both grinning at the camera.

 

All of that gone now. All of it now a thing of the past.

 

He stared at the photo of him and Aaron for a moment, remembering his words from earlier, when Aaron had told him that he’d soon make new friends. _“No one like you though_.” It was true, wasn’t it? He couldn’t imagine ever finding another friend who would even come close to meaning as much as Aaron had meant to him.

 

He never would’ve expected what would happen when he’d first arrived in the village and met that moody, badly dressed chav of a teenager.  He’d hated him at first. Aaron had caused nothing but trouble, had nearly gotten his dad in trouble with the police, had started getting far too close to Holly.

 

If you’d asked him back then, Adam would have loved nothing more than to get Aaron as far away from him and his family as possible. Getting close to him had been nearly impossible. It seemed like every time they even tried to get along, something would come along and ruin it. Back then, Adam had blamed Aaron for it — Aaron with his bad attitude, and arrogance and refusal to back down. He’d tried to tamper with Carl King’s car. He’d tried to kiss Adam.

 

And that’s where Adam had messed up, wasn’t it? Back then he’d often thought he could never be friends with Aaron, because he was just _too much —_ he could never just let things go _;_ he'd always needed to have the last say, even though it more often than not just blew up in his face. He hadn’t been able to let go of his grudge with John, and had dragged the police into it. He hadn’t been able to let go of his feud with Carl, and could have killed him if Adam hadn’t stepped in.

 

What Adam hadn’t realised then was that he was just as bad, if not worse — because while Aaron had never tried to hurt Adam directly, Adam had done a good job of that, hadn’t he? He’d pushed Aaron away when he’d tried to kiss him, and hadn’t even tried to be a supportive friend — instead he'd had a go at him. He'd _taunted_ him. Maybe he'd just been a kid back then, just a stupid kid, but he hadn’t even considered what his friend might’ve been going through.

 

And then, when Aaron and Holly had started going out, he’d wanted to protect his sister — and he didn’t regret _that_ part of it — but there were so many things he could’ve done differently. He’d gone and told everyone about Aaron - his parents, Holly, Andy. And then word had started to spread, and the Dingles had found out. Aaron was left dealing with snide jabs from Cain, and inquires from Paddy, when he’d already been going through hell trying to deal with everything.

 

Adam had never really thought about any of that back then, not until Aaron was lying in a hospital bed, and Adam was faced with the very real possibility of losing his best mate — because that’s what he’d somehow become, throughout and despite everything — and he couldn’t help but wonder about his part in all of it.

 

They’d been a mess back then. He never would’ve expected that Aaron would one day become one of the most important people in his life. Had he ever thought the lad who had tried to set fire to their barn, and then report his dad to the police, would go on to become his best mate? Or that when he was going around angrily warning Aaron off Holly, determined to protect his sister at any cost, that one day _Aaron_ would be someone he’d do anything to protect and look out for?

 

Things had changed, hadn’t they? He hadn’t liked Aaron very much at first, and he could safely say that Aaron had felt the same way about him. But — somehow, things had changed. He’d been there for Aaron after his suicide attempt, after the trial, after Jackson’s death - and Aaron had been there for him after Dad had died. He’d protected him, even after Adam nearly gone and killed Cain. He’d taken the blame, and had gone on the run to protect him. He’d come _back_ to protect him.

 

Adam didn’t know what he’d done to deserve such loyalty. He sure as hell didn’t think he’d done a good job of repaying it over the years.

 

He'd tried his best though. He’d tried to be a good friend to Aaron — the type of friend that Aaron deserved. And maybe ‘try’ was the wrong word, because it often came naturally. He and Aaron, they just _fit._ He’d never had a friend like him before, and he didn’t think — didn’t want to, really — that he’d ever find another one. When Aaron needed him, he knew how to be there for him. When Aaron was upset, or hurt, that urge to protect just came naturally. He’d felt it plenty of times - when Aaron was in jail after Robert’s shooting, after the truth about Gordon had been revealed, when Robert had cheated on Aaron, and Aaron had started self-harming again. It was a burning anger on his friend’s behalf, an urge to protect, to make things okay again. Maybe that’s what Aaron had felt when he’d taken the blame for him and had fled to France, or when he’d risked everything to help Adam escape.

 

He set the photos on the floor and leant his head back, closing his eyes. 

 

When he left here, Emmerdale would be a part of his past. The people there — he didn’t know when, or if, he’d see them again. He didn’t regret it, not if it meant protecting his mum, but that didn't mean that he wouldn’t miss the people he’d left behind. And Aaron — he’d never find another friend quite like him. 

 

The realisation of everything he’d left behind made his chest feel heavy. He’d told his mum that this was one big adventure, and he hoped she’d believe it, because the last thing he wanted to do was make this harder for her. He didn’t think he could believe it though, not when he was sitting here, and the realisation of how alone he’d be once he left here was well and truly hitting him.

 

_(“You’ll make new friends in no time.”_

 

_“No one like you though”)._

**Author's Note:**

> I miss Aaron and Adam's friendship so much :( And watching the older episodes of Aaron's storyline always makes me miss it even more...so I decided to write this.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it!


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